It's a warm sunny afternoon, the sky is blue, and it's a great day for baseball! Our class versus yours! Its my turn up to bat, who knows when I'll get another chance? Silence reigns, there are noises around, and kids yelling but I don't hear them. Even though he's away at work I can hear my dad's voice, "Keep your eye on the ball, you can hit it, you can hit it!" In my mind I'm telling myself to con-cen-trate and keep my eye on the ball. I can, I can hit it, maybe even a home run! The wind up, pitch, and then thud, thud, thud (as the ball bounces right back to the pitcher)...you're out! Everyone yells..." Good grief!" In baseball or in life, we've all had our Charlie Brown moments...

Feel the warm sun, look into his eye, the window to his soul; the feeling of triumph through Willie's face, capturing this emotion brings the viewer into the moment. It may also bring a priceless memory of your own, sliding into home plate, the smell of hot dogs, or the roar of the crowd. Through this painting, I've experienced that of which some of us never had a chance to do, but yearned to since our school yard game: the home run!

Angie Villegas, was born in Oakland,. She started her art career as a self taught t-shirt airbrush artist and continued to study in classes at Chabot College in Hayward. Last year she was invited to and participated in Fremont's 50th year Anniversary. She won the people's choice award and was also a part of the Jazz and Baseball show in Pittsburg, PA for the Baseball All Star game. She was in the group show, Play Ball in North Carolina Marshall Gallery. She has held a solo show at the San Leandro Museum in San Leandro and continues to display her art in many places throughout the Bay Area including the Willits Gallery in Fremont (3755 Washington Blvd.)

What's on deck for Angela now?

What are those baseball bats doing in an art gallery and shouldn't Sandy Koufax belong on the sports pages? Well it must be time for the 10th Annual Art of Baseball exhibition at the George Krevsky Gallery located at 77 Geary Street in San Francisco. This year's show, Spring Training opens with a reception on Thursday evening March 15th and continues through Saturday, April 28th. Forty men and women artists from across the country have been invited to create their interpretation of our National pastime. Paintings, drawings, prints, and sculpture, on the theme of baseball, line the walls of a gallery normally showing Modernist art by such well-known artists as, Thomas Hart Benton and Milton Avery.

Immortals like Honus Wagner, Satchel Paige, and Roberto Clemente, can be seen as well as Pacific Coast League favorites and sandlot players playing for the love of the game. Among the highlights of this year's show are Carl Hugo Beetz' canvas painted in 1938 of a White Sox exhibition game and Benjamin Blackburn's contemporary wood sculpture of Honus Wagner's famous Tobacco card. Artworks based on historical images of the 1934 Boston Red Sox, and the San Francisco Seals vs. the Oakland Oaks, were created by Bay Area printmaker Stacey Carter, Jennifer Ettinger's homage to Satchel Paige and Tina Hoggatt's porcelain enamel paintings on steel are all featured. Ebbets Field, now only a memory, Willie Mays, Ernie Banks, the Dimaggio brothers, and a young Ted Williams all create an atmosphere that will touch the hearts of art enthusiasts and sports fans alike.

George Krevsky Gallery77 Geary Street, San Francisco(415) 397-9748www.georgekrevskygallery.comGallery hours are Tuesday through Saturday from 11:00 am to 5:30 pm